The present invention generally relates to a system and method for authenticating an object, and more particularly relates to a system and method to analyze biometric and non-biometric data associated with an individual to authenticate the identity of the individual.
Historically, identity verification of an individual has relied on a human operator to visually compare in person, identification features on a document presented by the individual with the individual or with other documents presented by the individual. Such identification features often included a signature, an image affixed to a document, an address, and a date of birth, and the like. The result of the visual comparison between the individual and the document was often accurate so long as the presented document was genuine. The human operator, unless clearly obvious, had little opportunity to determine if the document was tampered with or a forgery. Such an identity verification process places a significant burden on the human operator for he or she alone has the responsibility to verify the identity of the individual and verify the authenticity of the document presented by the individual.
One conventional method for assisting the human operator in verifying or authenticating the identity of an individual and authenticate any documents presented by the individual in support of his or her claimed identity is the use of machine readable identification features embedded or formed as part of the document. The machine readable identification features of the document provide the human operator with the ability to verify the authenticity of the document or have the information encoded in the machine readable format displayed on a display device for comparison with the individual or human readable identification features on the document. Such machine readable identification features can include smart chips, barcodes or matrix code symbologies, magnetic mediums, a radio frequency identification feature and the like. Additionally, the human operator can use either the machine readable identification features of the document, the human readable identification features of the document or both, to query a database such as a watchlist and compare the identity information contained in the document with that of the database to determine the validity or authenticate the identity of the individual.
The machine readable identification features of a document allow the human operator to verify the individual's claimed identity corresponds with that of the document or with that of a database. The use of the machine readable identification features is an improvement over the in person visual comparison between human readable features on the document and the presenter of the document. Nevertheless, the human operator determining the authenticity of the identity claim and the individual's presented document must analyze and compare the machine readable identity features read from the document and with the human readable identity features of the document or with the results of the database query and determine based on his or her analysis if the identity of the individual is authentic.
One problem with the conventional use of the machine readable identity features and the human readable identify features of a document, and the result of a database query is the sole reliance on a human operator to analyze, typically in real time fashion, the data from the various data sources and make a determination to the authenticity of the individual's identity and the authenticity of the document presented. In similar fashion to the historical methodology of relying solely on the human operator to compare an image or signature on a document with the individual or a signature sample from the individual to authenticate the identity of an individual, the additional use of machine readable identification features places a significant burden on the individual performing the identity authentication to identify conflicts in the data, determine if the presented identity document is a forgery or tampered with and, in turn, grant or deny the privileges the presenter of the identity document is requesting. Such methodologies tend to be time consuming requiring identity verification to take place one individual at a time and is further prone to human errors.
Moreover, with identity fraud, one of the fastest growing crimes, along with an increase in security requirements promulgated by various government agencies and standard organizations, it is desirable to have a robust system and methods for performing identity verification that reduces the sole reliance on a human operator to verify the authenticity of the presented document and the individuals identity while minimizing the exposure of the individuals private data to the operator.